I accept that there are going to be some downsides to any permanent move to Zimbabwe but I grew up in Rhodesia & I don't have any rose tinted glasses about the "good old days". The "good old days" to me were days of endless indoctrination by physical & psychological abuse at school & bomb blasts, gunfire & civil war outside it!

I was never one of those rich white kids. I was the poorest white kid I knew. There were many poorer than me... but damned near every other white kid I knew had a massive house with a cook & a pool & a colour TV bigger than the Drive In screen! We had a black & white telly, we rented our flat in town where the "blacks" lived. For the last two & a half decades I have been cleaning houses in rich areas on London, scrubbing rich peoples toilets to pay the bills. I've tried my hand at various musical businesses that failed & until about 3 years ago I'd resigned myself to only ever being able to visit Zimbabwe & even then, given the cost of the flight, not very often. I've been back twice & the last time was in 1999.

But now I have a new internet music business & for the first time ever, I can earn a lot more than the £9 an hour I was getting as a high-class domestic! Suddenly Harares cheap rents make moving to the city quite viable. I can continue to earn the same income but lower my costs on rent & day-to-day expenses. I know for a fact that Harares rents are a third at least of Londons rents & I'd expect the cost of living to be something like 5 times cheaper than the UK. Correct me if I am wrong.

I'm not looking for the good old days, I'm not even sure what the hell I'm looking for. But after struggling along & bumping along the poverty line, surviving on benefits on & off for nearly 30 years, I'm inclined to consider moving my business to Harare.

I'm a music producer producing EDM music & all sorts of jingles & stuff. I've collected thousands of records over the years, even ran my own label in the 90's & I started a internet record label/shop three years ago that has produced a regular income & enough profit for me to consider moving my studio & all my musical equipment to Zimbabwe to set up a recording studio.

I'm interested in hearing from anyone who lives in Zimbabwe, particularly Harare, & can spin all the negative stuff in a slightly more positive or at least humourous way whilst being honest & balanced in their comments. If you know anything about the music scene, night-life, artist, art, gallerys, places to eat & any comments on day-to-day life in Harare please post...

May I suggest you wait until Mugabe drops dead before moving back to Zims. He has made it clear he does not like white faces. Once he has gone, the country may try encouraging enterprising people back to the home land.

"ja, head on back if you don't mind a few broken limbs, concussion & your homestead burnt to the ground". That would have made your point & made me laugh. You need to spin you dark paranoia with more humour

But other than that, no, not really. What Mugabe says has no bearing on my decisions. Yesterday David Cameron described a few thousand migrants as a swarm. What Cameron says about migrants, again, has no nearing on my decisions. His words would not drive me from England, & nor would Mugabes frighten me from Zimbabwe. I'm not fond of xenophobes of either complexion. I not afraid of them either & I would not let the things they say affect my plans.

I'm not here for political discourse on Mugabe or fascism of any sort. I'm here for first-hand accounts of day-to-day life in Zimbabwe, preferably Harare. If I wanted political discourse I would not have discouraged respondents to my original post from mentioning Mugabe. I see that there are opportunities to discuss Mugabe in the Africa forum, but I am not in that thread, am I?

But hey, I got a reply & I thank your for it Naturally, I have no intention of rushing into anything. Does anything about my posting suggest I might be stupid in any way? I will check the place out, properly for myself before filling my container! I'm planning a 6 week break in Harare early in 2016 & it's not likely I'd move back within the next 5 years... I'd love to backpack round the country again first, too, but I have an achilles problem & a long, restful break in Harare would be better for my health, provided I don't get concussion or necklaced or anything. Joke!

So yeah, I'll be able to give some first-hand feedback on Harare myself, with any luck..

This is not a political thread, this is merely about self preservation during a turbulent time within the country. The last of my friends finally gave up trying to make a living there, and my nephew is active with wildlife preservation around Zims and South Africa. Just noting my feedback from him. However, since you sound like a tough guy and bliksem a few manne when challenged, have at it.

May I suggest you wait until Mugabe drops dead before moving back to Zims. He has made it clear he does not like white faces. Once he has gone, the country may try encouraging enterprising people back to the home land.

Which one? The current president, or his well-educated wife (who managed an MBA in 6 months and a doctorate in about 3)?

She keeps saying she doesn't want to take over when he gets tired of being rebooted in Switzerland every 6 weeks, but I imagine she'll be salivating at the thought of power and scared of the guillotine when he goes. And from what I've heard she's an ever bigger nutjob than he is.

Sid - good luck. We need a Zimbabwean correspondent and I hope you have a great time there,

This thread is for anyone on the ground in Zimbabwe who has something positive to say about the country. I don't care if they're old or young, black or white, rich or poor, I don't care if they're a student or a rich businessman.

I am well aware of the opinions of those who don't like Mugabe. They're irrelevent to me. Keep 'em to yourselves!

Sorry if I come across a little impatient but I've been wading through racist doctrine & good-old-days bullsh*t for most of my adult life & most of the negativity about Zimbabwe comes in some way from disgruntled ex-Rhodies & they're KKK-type sympathisers.

Any ex-Rhodies might be interested to know that the last time I saw a Rhodie flag on TV was when that bastard shot & killed some innocent, unarmed black people in a church in USA. He was wearing the Rhodesian flag on a patch on his jacket. That's the legacy of the Rhodesian doctrine, psycho racists. When Rhodies were enjoying "the good old days" of Rhodesia, black people were subjugated, abused, enslaved & disenfranchised in their own country!

This thread is for anyone on the ground in Zimbabwe who has something positive to say about the country. I don't care if they're old or young, black or white, rich or poor, I don't care if they're a student or a rich businessman.

I am well aware of the opinions of those who don't like Mugabe. They're irrelevent to me. Keep 'em to yourselves!

Sorry if I come across a little impatient but I've been wading through racist doctrine & good-old-days bullsh*t for most of my adult life & most of the negativity about Zimbabwe comes in some way from disgruntled ex-Rhodies & they're KKK-type sympathisers.

Any ex-Rhodies might be interested to know that the last time I saw a Rhodie flag on TV was when that bastard shot & killed some innocent, unarmed black people in a church in USA. He was wearing the Rhodesian flag on a patch on his jacket. That's the legacy of the Rhodesian doctrine, psycho racists. When Rhodies were enjoying "the good old days" of Rhodesia, black people were subjugated, abused, enslaved & disenfranchised in their own country!

One thing's for sure, I do not now nor have I ever have fitted in to this consumerist, self-obsessed, greedy society with bad weather & even worse moods. I've been at the bottom of this society & when you live down here in the dirt you really see what Britain is about. If your life in the UK is lucky enough to be cushioned by wealth, you get a very different idea of what British life is really like.

It's all fine over here if you've got white skin, no dreadlocks & you wear the uniform of the oppressor, a suit. If you wander round the High Streets in my area with dreads & scruffy jeans you're treated like little more than a dirty, stupid servant!

I'm a the victim of subtle if not overt racism in the UK streets pretty regularly, & I'm not even black!

It's all fine over here if you've got white skin, no dreadlocks & you wear the uniform of the oppressor, a suit. ...
I'm a the victim of subtle if not overt racism in the UK streets pretty regularly, & I'm not even black!

Although missing a question mark & clearly of limited value to the purpose of this thread, this looks like a question. I might reply with one of my own. What "bull" is that I have bought into so much that you feel the need to post something so worthless?

Fortunately, I have found an a great deal of positive stuff from Zimbabwe, to counteract the well established paranoid whiteboy bullshit. I may collate some of it for you all when I have the time. Yes, of course there's a lot of bad press from Zim, you aren't a particularly clever or resourceful person if that's all you can find though. If you make a little effort you find that there in fact lots of positive news stories coming from Zimbabwe to counteract the negativity of mainstream media, & most of the folk who use places like this.

We get plenty of negative media in places like Iran, would it be fair to assume that seeing most Iranians think the west is the devil that they are all right? Just because you all think Zimbabwe is hell on earth does not make you all right.

Perhaps Pablo has never even been to Zimbabwe, hence the post that's heavy on the condescension & light on information.